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Emory continues probe of 'Arming America' author
Josey1
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Emory continues probe of 'Arming America' author
By Robert Stacy McCain
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
"Professor Michael Bellesiles will be on paid leave from his teaching duties at Emory University during the fall semester," the university said in a statement released yesterday.
Scholars say they have found evidence of research fraud in Mr. Bellesiles' book, "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture," which one critic says is full of "massive misrepresentation" and another says is "riddled with errors."
The university's six-month investigation "is continuing," the statement said. "Professor Bellesiles and the university have agreed that the results of the university's inquiry will be made public when the inquiry is completed."
Members of the Emory history department had expected to hear an announcement about Mr. Bellesiles' tenure today, Melissa Seckora of National Review reported yesterday on that magazine's Web site (nationalreview.com).
Classes begin at Emory next week. The university, an elite private institution on the east side of Atlanta, previously announced that it planned to conclude its inquiry into Mr. Bellesiles' work by September.
Emory was forced to begin its investigation of "Arming America" after critics exposed extensive errors and apparent fabrication of sources in the book.
"Arming America" reaped enthusiastic endorsements when it was published in the fall of 2000. Reviewers praised it as "exciting" and "valuable." Among other things, Mr. Bellesiles claimed that, contrary to popular belief, private gun ownership was rare in early America. Gun control advocates credited Mr. Bellesiles with "demolishing the myth" of Second Amendment rights to individual ownership of firearms. The book won the prestigious Bancroft Award last year.
Meanwhile, other researchers - including author Clayton Cramer and Northwest University law professor James Lindgren - began to document errors in "Arming America."
Scholars especially condemned "Arming America's" misrepresentation of 18th- and 19th-century probate records, which Mr. Bellesiles said proved that guns were rare in America's early days. Mr. Lindgren and others suggested Mr. Bellesiles had fabricated some sources, pointing out that he cited California records that had been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Ohio State University history professor Randolph Roth wrote that the conclusions of "Arming America" were "not supported by the sources Mr. Bellesiles cites, the sources he does not cite, or by the data he presents."
Mr. Bellesiles claimed he would be vindicated by a symposium on his work that was published in the William and Mary Quarterly in February, but the contributors to that issue were overwhelmingly negative toward "Arming America."
Emory announced an investigation in February. In April, the university announced that its internal review was complete and it had "concluded that further investigation would be warranted by an independent committee of distinguished scholars."
In May, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced it was withdrawing its sponsorship from a fellowship awarded to Mr. Bellesiles through the Newberry Library in Chicago.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020823-23126206.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Robert Stacy McCain
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
"Professor Michael Bellesiles will be on paid leave from his teaching duties at Emory University during the fall semester," the university said in a statement released yesterday.
Scholars say they have found evidence of research fraud in Mr. Bellesiles' book, "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture," which one critic says is full of "massive misrepresentation" and another says is "riddled with errors."
The university's six-month investigation "is continuing," the statement said. "Professor Bellesiles and the university have agreed that the results of the university's inquiry will be made public when the inquiry is completed."
Members of the Emory history department had expected to hear an announcement about Mr. Bellesiles' tenure today, Melissa Seckora of National Review reported yesterday on that magazine's Web site (nationalreview.com).
Classes begin at Emory next week. The university, an elite private institution on the east side of Atlanta, previously announced that it planned to conclude its inquiry into Mr. Bellesiles' work by September.
Emory was forced to begin its investigation of "Arming America" after critics exposed extensive errors and apparent fabrication of sources in the book.
"Arming America" reaped enthusiastic endorsements when it was published in the fall of 2000. Reviewers praised it as "exciting" and "valuable." Among other things, Mr. Bellesiles claimed that, contrary to popular belief, private gun ownership was rare in early America. Gun control advocates credited Mr. Bellesiles with "demolishing the myth" of Second Amendment rights to individual ownership of firearms. The book won the prestigious Bancroft Award last year.
Meanwhile, other researchers - including author Clayton Cramer and Northwest University law professor James Lindgren - began to document errors in "Arming America."
Scholars especially condemned "Arming America's" misrepresentation of 18th- and 19th-century probate records, which Mr. Bellesiles said proved that guns were rare in America's early days. Mr. Lindgren and others suggested Mr. Bellesiles had fabricated some sources, pointing out that he cited California records that had been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Ohio State University history professor Randolph Roth wrote that the conclusions of "Arming America" were "not supported by the sources Mr. Bellesiles cites, the sources he does not cite, or by the data he presents."
Mr. Bellesiles claimed he would be vindicated by a symposium on his work that was published in the William and Mary Quarterly in February, but the contributors to that issue were overwhelmingly negative toward "Arming America."
Emory announced an investigation in February. In April, the university announced that its internal review was complete and it had "concluded that further investigation would be warranted by an independent committee of distinguished scholars."
In May, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced it was withdrawing its sponsorship from a fellowship awarded to Mr. Bellesiles through the Newberry Library in Chicago.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020823-23126206.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
By David Mehegan, Globe Staff, 8/23/2002
tlanta's Emory University yesterday placed historian Michael Bellesiles on paid leave for the fall semester, pending further consideration of allegations that he falsified research in his prize-winning 2000 book, ''Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture.''
In a statement to the history faculty, academic dean Robert Paul said, ''The university's inquiry regarding `Arming America' ... is continuing. Professor Bellesiles and the university have agreed that the results of the university's inquiry will be made public when the inquiry is completed.''
Bellesiles argued in his book that few people in early America owned firearms and that most of the guns they did own were in poor condition. The book drew favorable reviews, then won the coveted Bancroft Prize for a history book. But there was a storm of outrage from gun-owner organizations and disbelief among several historians of early America.
Last September, a Globe examination of probate records in Rutland, Vt., showed that Bellesiles's quotation of the records on his Web site, designed to support his thesis, contained words that were not in the originals, and confirmed critics' allegations that the San Francisco records Bellesiles had cited in his book had burned in the 1906 earthquake. A panel of outside scholars empaneled by Emory to investigate turned in a report this summer, but there has been no word on its findings.
David Mehegan can be reached at mehegan@globe.com.
This story ran on page C2 of the Boston Globe on 8/23/2002.
c Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/235/living/Prize_winning_historian_s_book_research_under_scrutiny+.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."
Rugster
Toujours Pret
"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."
"Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."
Fraud being the basis of selling this book is consumer fraud isn't it?
In recommending an independent panel of experts be engaged, Emory only has to pass sentence.
It would be nice to see the College recover damages in a civil suit. I wonder if a judge could order the destruction of "Arming America" in school and public libraries and posting of retraction notices in bookstores?
Unfortunately this guy has done his damage. An arrow once released cannot return to the quiver. He will probably be allowed to retire honorably with full benefits.